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brach

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brach¹

  • /bɹæt͡ʃ/ US, UK

Rhymes with -ætʃ

Where it comes from

From Late Middle English brache (“hunting dog, especially a small scent hound; female dog, bitch (?); lapdog (?)”), probably a back-formation from Old French brachès, brachez, the plural of brachet (“female scent hound”), a diminutive of brac, from Old High German braccho, bracco, bracko (“scent hound”) (modern German Bracke); further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Germanic *brēkijaną (compare Latin fragrō (“to emit a smell”), Middle High German bræhen (“to smell (something); to use the sense of smell; to have a (bad) smell”)), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreHg- (“to have a strong odour, to smell”).

cognates

* Italian bracco

* Medieval Latin bracco

* Occitan brac

* Spanish braco

noun brachs · braches

  1. archaic Originally, a synonym of scent hound (“a hunting dog that tracks prey using its sense of smell rather than by its vision”); later, any female hound; a bitch hound. In ſome countreys no woman is ſo honourable as she that hath to doo with moſt men, and can give the luſtieſt ſtriker oddes by 25 times in one night, as Meſſalina did; and ſo it is with this his bratche, or bitch-foxe.

    Similar: brachet

  2. archaic, derogatory A despicable or disagreeable woman; a bitch. Avvay this Brach. I'll bring thee, Rogue, vvithin / The Statute of Sorcerie, triceſimo tertio [thirty-three] / Of Harry the eight: […]

brach²

  • /bɹæk/ US, UK

Rhymes with -æk

Where it comes from

Clipping of brach(iopod).

noun brachs

  1. abbreviation, archaic, clipping, informal Clipping of brachiopod

Brach³

proper noun

  1. A surname.
  2. A commune in Gironde department, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.

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MLA

"brach." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/brach. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

brach. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/brach

Chicago

"brach." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/brach.

BibTeX
@misc{brach_2026,
  title = {brach},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/brach},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}